Gingerbread Cream Cheese Spread

I've been in a serious cooking mood this week. Maybe it's because my ayi is gone and I don't have to worry about getting in her way or feel guilty for making too many dirty dishes for her to wash. 

On the other hand, I do have to wash all those dishes myself.....sigh.

In any case I've been baking some of those things that I haven't had time to make in a while, like my recipe for pumpkin bagels. As I also had a lot of cream cheese that needed to be used, I decided to finally experiment and create a recipe for that gingerbread cream cheese I've been wanting forever. A quick Google search offered no help on similar recipes, so I was on my own as far as ingredients and quantities, but I'm happy to say that my experimenting paid off. This cream cheese spread would be amazing on any plain bagel but on a fresh baked pumpkin bagel, it is heaven!

I thought about adding fresh ginger to this spread because I love the intense flavor of fresh ginger, but in the end ,I wanted the smoother consistency that ground ginger gave me. If you like you can sub fresh grated ginger for the ground ginger; probably 1 tbsp (15ml).

Ingredients:

8oz(227g) cream cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp (15ml) molasses

1-2 tsp(5-10ml) ground ginger (I opted for 2 tsp because I love ginger, but it had a really strong flavor)

dash of ground cloves

3/4 tsp (4ml) ground cinnamon 

Directions:

 Let your cream cheese sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours. In a large mixing bowl add cream cheese.

 Beat until smooth. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar not shown) and beat until smooth and well mixed.

 Add molasses, ginger, cloves and cinnamon and beat again until cream cheese spread is light and fluffy.

Serve on a warm toasted bagel and enjoy!